Access allowance based on regions

ABSTRACT

A device ( 10 ) for receiving content includes a memory ( 12 ) which stores a descriptor; and a processor ( 18 ) which reads the descriptor and an origin code embedded in the content. The processor ( 18 ) compares the descriptor with the origin code, and allows content access, such as display of the content onto a screen ( 20 ), when the descriptor is substantially identical to the origin code. The descriptor indicates the region where the device may be useable, while the origin code indicates the origin of broadcast of the content ( 14 ). Alternatively or in addition, the descriptor may indicate the time zone where the device is useable and the origin code indicates the time zone of origin of the broadcast content ( 14 ). The device ( 10 ) prevents content access such as display when the content code included in the content ( 14 ) does not match the descriptor stored in the memory ( 12 ) of the device ( 10 ). Further, usage rules may be embedded in the content ( 14 ), and the processor ( 18 ) is configured to read the usage rules and allow content access in accordance with the usage rules.

The invention relates to allowing display of content onto a medium basedon regions and usage rules. More particularly, source content is allowedto be displayed onto a screen based on the usage rules, such as ifidentical region codes are detected in the source content and thedisplay apparatus.

Typically, television broadcasts may be viewed without restriction.Broadcast content may be data from television such as ATSC (AmericanTelevision Standards Committee) television broadcast stream, radio,satellite, or Internet such as web pages, web broadcasts, DVB (DigitalVideo Broadcasts) whether terrestrial or via satellite. To increaserevenue, it is highly desirable for broadcasters to control when andwhere broadcast content may be viewed. Accordingly, there is a need tocontrol when and where broadcast content may be viewed.

According to the invention, a device for receiving content includes amemory which stores a descriptor; and a processor which reads thedescriptor and an origin code embedded in the content. The processorcompares the descriptor with the origin code, and allows access to thecontent, such as display onto a screen, when the descriptor issubstantially identical to the origin code and/or in accordance withusage rules embedded in the content for access thereof. The descriptorindicates the region where the device may be useable, while the origincode indicates the region of broadcast of the content. Alternatively orin addition, the descriptor may indicate the time zone where the deviceis useable and the origin code includes the time zone of broadcast ofthe content. The device prevents content access when the contentembedded time zone does not match the time zone included in the device.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become morereadily apparent from a consideration of the following detaileddescription set forth with reference to the accompanying drawing, whichspecifies and shows a preferred embodiment of the invention; and inwhich:

FIG. 1 shows a receiver according to present invention.

The invention, together with attendant advantages, will be bestunderstood by reference to the following detailed description of thepreferred embodiment of the invention, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing.

A device and method for receiving content is described where accessingthe content, such as displaying the content on a screen or providing thecontent to a speaker for example, is allowed only after certain criteriaare met, such as having identical or substantially identical regionscodes imbedded in the device and the received content. Regions codes maybe embedded in the content which may be data stream from any source,such as radio, television, Internet or provided on any storage productsuch as tapes, CDs (Compact Disks), DVDs, solid state memories or anyother known memory devices, or combinations thereof. The content may bedistributed by any means or medium such as via air, including satelliteor any long or short range wireless transmission systems; wires such ascable including fiber optics.

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth,such as specific type of media and content, in order to provide athorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will beobvious to one skilled in the art that the present invention may bepracticed without these specific details. In other instances, well knownsystems have not been set forth in detail in order to not unnecessarilyobscure the present invention.

The illustrative embodiment described herein is an embodiment of a casewhere the present invention is applied to a television receiver wherethe content includes television signals such as programming or movies.However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the receivingdevice and content may be any other receiving devices and content, suchas playback devices of tape or disk or any storage medium, radio orInternet devices and content, where the content may be any type of dataor signal, such as signals disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/471,750, and published as International Publication No. WO 01/49030,which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, and disclosesrepresenting rating systems along with region information in a datastructure stored in a memory of a multimedia system. The signals or datastream may be from any source and distributed by any means or medium,such as audio or video stream distributed through the Internet ortelevision and radio signals.

In one embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a receiving apparatus 10 is providedfor receiving and playback of content. The receiving apparatus 10 may beany type of a receiver having any tuner, such as radio and televisiontuners like ATSC or DVB tuners. Alternatively or in addition, receivingapparatus 10 may be any type of a playback device such as a tape, and anoptical DVD or CD playback device and for example. Illustratively, thereceiving apparatus 10 is a television receiver with a tuner configuredto receive ATSC television broadcast stream. For brevity, details of thereceiving apparatus 10 that are not directly related to the presentinvention, such as the tuner, reception means and other circuits are notincluded herein, but are well known in the art.

The television receiver 10 includes a memory 12 where, at time ofmanufacture for example, at least one descriptor or region code isstored therein which may be a region such as the United States orEurope. Users have no access to write or change data stored in thismemory 12 and thus cannot change or store new descriptors or regioncodes therein. Additional or alternate descriptors may be in televisionreceiver 10 such as time zones, e.g., Pacific, Central, Mountain, orEastern time zones of the United States. The television receiver 10 isconfigured to receive content 14 from a source 16, such as ATSCtelevision broadcast stream having at least one descriptor or origincode embedded in therein. The television receiver 10 includes aprocessor 18, which is configured to read the descriptor embedded in thetelevision memory 12 and an origin code embedded in the content 14. Theprocessor 18 allows content access, e.g., display of the content 14 ontoa screen 20, when the descriptor of the television 10 is substantiallyidentical to origin code of the content 14.

According to the present invention, at least one region code is imbeddedin the content 14. For example, in the illustrative case where thecontent 14 is broadcast television signals in the United States, adescriptor such as at least one region code indicative of the origin ofthe broadcast content is added to the ATSC (American TelevisionStandards Committee) television broadcast stream. The descriptor may beadded to any signal or content 14, for example, in pre-existing or newpackets of high definition video broadcast signals. Such signals aretypically packet based, having packets containing video and audiocontent for all of the broadcast channels, and packets that describe howto demodulate (or break apart) the signal into viewable video. Suchsignals also include informational packets embedded therein, such as thetime the signal was broadcast as well as program guide information thatdescribe and aid in using the content.

The informational packets, which are already embedded within thebroadcast, may be expanded to include region codes or other descriptors,such as time zone of the broadcast origin and/or time of broadcast aswell as usage rules for accessing the content and control, e.g.,prevent, copying thereof Alternatively or in addition, desireddescriptors may be included in a new packet added to the broadcast Thecontent descriptors may be used by the receiver 10 that is configured todetermine whether the content could be viewed, copied or retransmitted.

Accordingly, the ATSC television broadcast stream for example mayinclude descriptors that indicate the origin region of broadcast of thecontent 14, the time zone of the broadcast origin, and/or time ofbroadcast of the content 14, e.g., rounded to the nearest hour, as wellas the usage rules. Other descriptors may also be included for use inallowing and/or preventing viewing, reproduction, playback and/orrecordation using properly configured receivers, such as the televisionreceiver 10 as well as special drives and disk as disclosed in U.S.Patent Application No. 60/432,889(U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 60/372,893, Attorney Docket No. US 020,116), entitled RecordingAllowance Based on Regions, by Raymond Krasinski who is also theinventor of the present application, where substantially identicaldescriptors are also included in the device memory and disk forcomparison and allowance of content reproduction. Illustratively, thesedescriptors can be similar to the program related descriptors alreadycarried in the digital television broadcast data stream and thus willnot affect the quality of service of the digital television broadcast.

The processor 18 of the television receiver 10 is configured, prior toallowing access to the content 14, to read and compare the descriptor(s)embedded in the content 14 and the descriptor(s) embedded in thereceiver 10, and allow content access, such as display of the content 14on the screen 20, when the content descriptor(s) and the devicedescriptor(s) are substantially identical. Alternatively, the processor18 allows content display in accordance with the usage rules embedded inthe content 14. For example, depending on the region codes and/or timezones embedded the content 14 and the receiver 10, the usage rules mayindicate to allow content display after a predetermined time from thecurrent time provided by a timing module 22 of the receiver 10. Toprevent tampering by the user, the current time and time zone can beextracted periodically or at random from the broadcast content or othersignals with time and date information, such as through the GlobalPositioning Satellite signals.

Adding or embedding content descriptors as well as usage rules tobroadcast content, and device descriptors in receivers, and configuringthe receivers to read and compare content and device descriptors as wellas usage rules, and allow access to the content based on the content,and device descriptors and/or compliance with the usage rules provides asystem and method that allow control of viewing and copy protection ofthe broadcast content from retransmission outside of its intendedbroadcast region.

Finally, the above-discussion is intended to be merely illustrative ofthe present invention and should not be construed as limiting theappended claims to any particular embodiment or group of embodiments.For example, the processor 22 may be a dedicated processor forperforming in accordance with the present invention or may be ageneral-purpose processor wherein only one of many functions operatesfor performing in accordance with the present invention. The processormay operate utilizing a program portion, multiple program segments, ormay be a hardware device utilizing a dedicated or multi-purposeintegrated circuit. The above system utilized for allowing contentreproduction may be utilized in conjunction with further systems. Thus,while the present invention has been described in particular detail withreference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof, it should also beappreciated that numerous modifications and changes may be made theretowithout departing from the broader and intended spirit and scope of theinvention as set forth in the claims that follow. The specification anddrawing are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative manner and arenot intended to limit the scope of the appended claims.

In interpreting the appended claims, it should be understood that:

-   -   the word “comprising” does not exclude the presence of other        elements or acts than those listed in a given claim;    -   the word “a” or “an” preceding an element does not exclude the        presence of a plurality of such elements;    -   any reference signs in the claims do not limit their scope;    -   several “means” may be represented by the same item or hardware        or software implemented structure or function; and    -   each of the disclosed elements may be comprised of hardware        portions (e.g., discrete electronic circuitry), software        portions (e.g., computer programming), or any combination        thereof.

1. A device (10) for receiving content (14) comprising: a memory (12)which is configured to store a descriptor; and a processor (18) which isconfigured to read said descriptor and an origin code embbedded in saidcontent (14); wherein said processor (18) is further configured to allowaccess of said content (14) when said descriptor is substantiallyidentical to said origin code
 2. The device (10) of claim 1, whereinsaid processor (18) is further configured to allow at least one of videosignals of said content (14) to be displayed onto a screen (20) andaudio signals of said content to be heard on a speaker when saiddescriptor is substantially identical to said origin code.
 3. The device(10) of claim 1, wherein usage rules are further embedded in saidcontent (14); said processor (18) being further configured to read saidusage rules and determining said access of said content (14) based onsaid usage rules.
 4. The device (10) of claim 1, wherein usage rules areembedded in said content (14); said processor (18) being configured toobey said usage rules in determining said access of said content (14).5. The device (10) of claim 4, wherein said usage rules are related toallow said access of said content (14) based on said origin code andsaid descriptor.
 6. The device (10) of claim 1, wherein said descriptorincludes a region code indicative of a region said device (10) isuseable, and said origin code is related to an origin of said content(14).
 7. The device (10) of claim 1, wherein said descriptor includes adevice time zone indicative of regions said device (10) is useable, andsaid origin code includes a content time zone indicative of an origin ofsaid content (14).
 8. The device (10) of claim 7, wherein said devicetime zone is obtainable from a timing module (22) of said device (10).9. A method for accessing of content (14) of a device (10) comprising:reading a descriptor embedded in said (10) device; reading an origincode embedded in said content; comparing said descriptor with saidorigin code; and allowing access of said content (14) when saiddescriptor and said origin code are substantially identical.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, wherein said allowing act allows at least one ofvideo signals of said content (14) to be displayed onto a screen (20)and audio signals of said content (14) to be heard on a speaker whensaid descriptor is substantially identical to said origin code.
 11. Themethod of claim 9, further comprising: reading usage rules embedded insaid content (14); and determining said access of said content (14)based on said usage rules.
 12. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising: reading usage rules embedded in said content (14); andobeying said usage rules in determining said access of said content(14).
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein said usage rules are relatedto allowing said access of said content (14) based on said origin codeand said descriptor.
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein said descriptorincludes a region code indicative of a region said device (10) isuseable, and said origin code is related to an origin of said content(14).
 15. The method of claim 9, wherein said descriptor includes adevice time zone indicative of regions said device is useable, and saidorigin code includes a content time zone indicative of an origin of saidcontent (14).
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising obtainingsaid device time zone from a timing module of said device (10).
 17. Themethod of claim 9, further comprising: storing said descriptor in amemory (12) of said device (10); and embedding an origin code in saidcontent (14).
 18. A signal embodied in a carrier wave comprising:content (14) for access by a device (10); and a content code indicativeof an origin of said signal; wherein said signal is allowed to beaccessed when said content code is substantially identical to a devicecode imbedded in said device (10).
 19. The signal of claim 18, furthercomprising usage rules, wherein said signal is allowed to be accessedbased on usage rules.
 20. The signal of claim 18, wherein said contentcode includes a first time zone of origin of a broadcast of said content(14), said signal being allowed to be accessed by said device (10) whena second time zone included in said device (10) is substantiallyidentical to first time zone.